Jul. 27, 2013

Written by

Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Although turnouts are often low for summer elections, voters in 17 tri-county communities will make some key decisions Aug. 6.

Ballot questions will decide whether residents approve taxes to support police and fire service, schools and a library in Allen Park, Harrison Township and St. Clair Shores.

And in nine cities, primary voters will choose finalists for mayoral and city council races in November. Here’s a rundown of elections outside Detroit.

WAYNE COUNTY

Residents of Dearborn and six other Wayne County cities will narrow the field of candidates running this fall for mayor and city council.

In Dearborn, five challengers are listed on the ballot for mayor above two-time incumbent John O’Reilly Jr. In addition, 21 candidates are running for seven seats on the City Council. Five council incumbents are running, but two others declined to run, and that lured many newcomers, elections supervisor Cindy Galea said. The top 14 vote-getters will move on to the November ballot.

Other mayoral primaries will be in Ecorse, Hamtramck, River Rouge, Romulus and Taylor. Cities with council primaries besides Dearborn are Hamtramck, Romulus, Trenton and Taylor, which also has a primary for treasurer.

As for ballot proposals, Allen Park residents face a dilemma: They can keep property taxes flat in the fiscally challenged city run by emergency manager Joyce Parker, or they can raise taxes to avoid layoffs of police and firefighters that Parker has demanded if the measure fails.

Mayor William Matakas calls the tax hike “absolutely vital to turning around our city.” Without it, about 15 of the city’s 23 firefighters and seven of its 37 police officers will get pink slips, Matakas said. The 6.75-mill tax for 10 years would replace a 3.5-mill, five-year hike approved by voters in 2011. If the new tax passes, it would increase the annual property tax on a house with an average taxable value of $41,000 by $133 in 2014 from the previous $144 hike levied in 2011, Matakas said.

Taxable value is half or less than the house’s market value.

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In the South Redford School District, Redford Township voters will see a proposal to raise property taxes 2.0 mills for 10 years. That would create a sinking fund — like a savings account, with annual contributions of about $1 million — for security upgrades and renovations of aging school buildings, according to the district’s website. The fund would pay no interest and could not be used for operating costs such as salaries, the site said.

The impact on an average Redford Township home with a taxable value of $20,250 would be $41 a year.

OAKLAND COUNTY

Pontiac has primary races for mayor and council. Compared with the years before the city had an emergency manager, the part-time posts now pay far less — $75 per meeting and no cars. Before the EM, the positions paid $15,000 a year with free gas and free cars, emergency manager Lou Schimmel said. There are 10 council candidates running for three seats.

The city’s full-time mayor, Leon Jukowski, will face four challengers. That race occurs just as Jukowski is to regain his office’s full powers and the emergency manager prepares to leave in early August, Schimmel said.

No other Oakland County ballots will list candidates, but two school districts have high-stakes funding questions. Voters in Farmington Public Schools — which includes the cities of Farmington and Farmington Hills as well as part of West Bloomfield — are being asked to pass a $222-million bond proposal for building renovations, new technology and safety upgrades. The money would be spent over the next decade to upgrade all 16 of the district’s K-12 schools, said Superintendent Susan Zurvalec. School safety has taken a high profile since the elementary school shootings in Newtown, Conn., last year, Zurvalec said.

“And we’ll be providing digital devices to every student and putting an interactive white board in every classroom,” she said. The digital devices would be replaced after about 10 years, using money banked from the bond, Zurvalec said. More spending would go toward media centers, three new high school auditoriums, a new pool to replace one that flunked state standards, and upgrades or new gymnasiums at all schools, she said.

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Critics have said the bond is excessive in a district with declining enrollment. The K-12 student body numbered about 11,500 this year, down about 700 students over the last four yearsand projected to drop another 100 a year through 2018, officials said.

On an average Farmington Hills home with a taxable value of $86,370, the proposal would cost $226 a year, according to figures from the Oakland County Equalization Office.

In the Lake Orion Community School District, two bond proposals are on the ballot. Proposal A requests 1.5 mills for 20 years to raise about $28.7 million. Proposal B asks for 0.18 mills for 20 years to raise $4.5 million. Proposal A “addresses our most urgent needs, particularly around safety and security, energy efficiency and updating our learning areas,” Assistant Superintendent John Fitzgerald said.

Proposal B “is more about enhancing our facilities to make us competitive with other districts,” Fitzgerald said.

“People can vote for A or B or both. I can’t advocate voting for this, by law, but I can explain that we had the Oakland County sheriff do a full security audit on all of our schools, and Proposal A would implement their recommendations,” he said.

Oxford Township resident Jim Hare, a retired auto engineer, said he planned to vote no on both measures.

“I’m personal friends of several board members, and I think they’ve done a good job, but I just think the millage is too much money,” Hare said.

If both millages pass, the tax on a house in Oxford Township with an average taxable value of about $98,000 would rise about $165 a year.

MACOMB COUNTY

In St. Clair Shores, voters will choose primary winners for City Council races in November. They also will decide whether to renew a 2.0-mill tax hike for three years to fund police and fire operations.

The ballot language says that, if the measure passes, the city promises to employ “no fewer than 90 personnel in the Police Department and no fewer than 50” in the Fire Department. The city’s website says that the tax will merely continue the current yearly tax of $84 a year on a home with an average taxable value of $41,800.

Voters will see requests for a three-year renewal of 6.68 mills for “police, fire and general operations” in Harrison Township, along with a second request for a 0.5-mill increase “for fire operations” in the township through 2016. Last August, 77.7% of voters approved the 6.68-mill levy for one year. Township officials have said they hope both proposals pass to ensure that emergency medical services are fully funded. If the 0.5-mill increase is approved, the impact on the owner of a township home with an average taxable value of $87,500 would be $44 a year.

Also on Harrison Township ballots is a second request for a 0.5-mill tax boost, this one to support the township’s fledgling library, currently open only 22 hours a week. The 10-year measure would cost the owner of an average home $44 a year.